Tony: Central midfield issues for Shrews visit

Rovers boss Tony Mowbray admits he has a central midfield headache ahead of Shrewsbury's visit to Ewood Park this weekend.

Peter Whittingham missed out on the squad for the FA Cup clash with Hull City last weekend, whilst fellow midfield man Corry Evans limped out just before half time against the Tigers.

And Mowbray confesses that neither will be fit enough to play a part on Saturday in the second v third clash.

“The injuries have started to mount up a little bit now, on the back of a heavy workload over Christmas and New Year," the boss told iFollow.

“I think there are maybe six injured. It’s part and parcel of football but we’ll get on with it, be positive and look forward to the next challenge.

“Corry’s got a thigh strain, it will be a couple of weeks, I think. I don’t think you can put a definite time on it and we won’t rush him back, he needs to start the process of running, sprinting, twisting and kicking balls. It will be a few weeks before he goes through that process and then gets back on the grass.

“Peter is a bit worse than Corry. He’s looking at four to six weeks, but it’s part of the game and we’ll push on. A positive the other day was young [Lewis] Travis coming onto the pitch for the first team and doing extremely well, he’s done that a couple of times now.

“Young [Willem] Tomlinson had a slight hamstring issue but he’s come through that and trained today. We’ll be fine, I’m sure."

The boss added that Marcus Antonsson will also be missing for the game and will be out long-term due to an ankle injury.

"We've received confirmation that Marcus will be out for a month.

“As I said, we’ve got some young, hungry players who can come in and do a fantastic job. Because of the injuries, we’ve got five or six young players training with us and it’s really increased the tempo and competitive edge in training.

“It looks as if everyone is really looking forward to the challenge of this weekend."

But in more positive news, Mowbray revealed things are progressing nicely for Irish defender Darragh Lenihan, who's been missing since the opening day of the season after suffering a broken metatarsal.

“Lenihan is on the grass, I’ve seen him training for the last few days with the medical department. He’s not that far away; he’s got his boots on and he’s running, hopefully before we know it he’ll be joining in with us and looking to play a game."